Burning Desires
by DoubleDracos
Summary: Burning Desires: The Companion Piece to Phoenix Rising
1. Chapter 1

_**Burning Desires**_

 _ **Authors Note**_

Hey guys and welcome to Burning Desires.  
This is going to be a companion piece for Phoenix Rising.  
It is going to be filled with one-shots to fill you all on major events that aren't covered in Phoenix Rising.

The first chapter is all about Theodore Nott and his backstory.  
Thank you for reading both Phoenix Rising and Burning Desires.  
DoubleDracos


	2. Chapter 2

_**Chapter 1: Theo**_

Smack!

The sound reverberated through the house, the familiar violent crack echoed in Theo's ears and he winced instinctively. His father, drunk, abusing his mother as he was wont to do this summer since Harry Potter had defeated the Dark Lord in Little Hangleton.

It was more than he could handle, he was powerless to intervene with the trace on him, and even if he did have his wand and somehow mustered the courage to step in, his father was far superior with magic. Theo didn't have the guts, his were now churning in the pit of his stomach.

He couldn't take this anymore, he had to get out. He grabbed his bag from the foot of his bed, it had been packed for months, ready if he ever managed to find the resolve required to force his body to cooperate with his will. He had to run away, he had run through the plan a thousand times in his head. He had nowhere to go, no one to turn to and he knew that he couldn't be caught. London; it was familiar enough that he could survive until he had a real plan and big enough he could slip under the veil of anonymity of the city. Clutching the nylon of his rucksack he scanned the hall for danger, senses heightened like a hare ready to make the dash across an open field. He crossed the wooden floor quietly, heart in his mouth, a pulse thudding in his eardrums, ears pricked. His hand touched the doorknob and he froze, his legs turned to iron weights. Lobotomized by fear, every second lasting for a minute, every second he could be caught. His mother screamed again, jumpstarting Theo back into action, shaking fingers fumbling with the doorknob that rattle like a siren. It opened and the air hit his face like a defibrillator. Theo ran and he didn't look back. He didn't stop running, quick on his feet and nimble, flight instinct was powered by the surge of adrenaline that coursed through his veins

Ears pricked and eyes wide like a racehorse out of the gates, Theo ran, wind bit at his face like shards of glass and an unnaturally wide, toothy smile crossed his face. He had done it. He was free.

Theo sat in the middle of a playground, on a swing, the chains groaned in protested as he halfheartedly pushed himself back and forth. It was raining, the kind of light drizzle that soaked you to the bone before you had realised, his clothes were soaked and stuck to his ice-cold skin, his hair was saturated and weighed down his head. Yet there was a light in the dark; a neon green and hot pink fluorescent signs illuminated the area, the wet asphalt glittered in beckoning colours, whispering the promise of a place to warm up.

Theo knew he had to get out of the rain so he headed into the gay bar over the road. The bar was painted in a shock of bright colours, or was it just the lights? Theo couldn't tell. 2 for 1 cocktail posters were pasted haphazardly over the walls amongst a menagerie of other drink offers. The air was thick with the scent of perspiration and the fumes from the smoke machine from the night before, coating the throat of all those who dare to enter.

Theo made his way to an empty barstool tucked in the corner, away from the vast bar area that left him feeling exposed. As soon as he touched the fraying material, he felt a strong hand group his ass. The owner of the hand leaned over the bar and ordered him a drink without asking or even looking at Theo.

Pushing his russet wet hair back from his sky blue eyes, Theo looked up into the face of a Golden man, who wore a quiver on his back, an easy smile on his face and seemed to have a godly aura to him.

"Drink up, kid"

"What's your name?" Theo asked sceptically, unsure whether to thank the man for the beverage or be offended by the comforting, warm hand that still enveloped his ass. His elocution lessons hadn't covered this kind of situation, regardless Theo was pleasantly surprised by the way it felt and he doubted wizards ventured here if they did he doubted they would risk exposing their own location at the expense of Theo.

"You can call me Apollo" the golden man replied with a warm smile that instantly made him melt.

The rest of the night passed in a blur for Theodore Nott.

SMACK!  
Theo could hear the sound of flesh hitting flesh reverberating through the air.  
Except this time, his Mother was busying herself with arranging Theo's 16th birthday cards on the mantle and it was he who was the object of his father's infamous right hook.  
The screams of Bendis Nott could be heard throughout the household; "No son of mine is a flaming poof! You, you queer, will lay with a FEMALE. Tomorrow. And you best get her pregnant Theodore or mark my words, I will kill you where you stand!" the man's face was turning an unhealthy beet red and foaming at the mouth like a rabid dog, his son stood before him in silence, blinking against the spittle that was firing at him.  
His bottom lip quivered slightly and his bit down on it, drawing blood, in an effort to stay composed or risk another assault.  
"Don't cry, Theodore. Don't you DARE cry boy, no man, no son of mine cries. Pathetic!" Bendis was snarling, inches from his son's pale face, his voice dripping with venom and shaking with the rage that coursed through his body.  
"Father I-"  
Bendis cracked Theo in the face, harder this time. He sneered at the boy with disgust in his eyes as he grabbed him by the hair and forced his face, which he was still cradling in shock, backwards so he could see the terror in his eyes.  
"Until you have bedded a wife and secured our line, I have no son" he chucked the shaking boy across the room violently, sending him into the wall and landing in a heap on the floor. Bendis made a disgusted noise in the back of his throat before he walked leisurely back to his seat and took a sip of his firewhiskey, staring across the room blankly.

Theo scrambled to his feet and headed to his room, digging in his draws desperately, sending his clothes over his shoulder in disarray. He grasped the precious object in his hands as he fell to his knee, silent tears streaming down his face.  
He took one last look at the razor blade that glinted malevolently in the light and brought it quickly down his pale flesh, opening his vein with a surgeon's precision, cutting and slashing through that awful Dark Mark. Hot tears burned in his eyes and he let out all of his pain and anger with stinging slices.  
Exhausted, Theodore Nott crawled into bed and cried himself to sleep, knowing that no matter how hard he tried to end it all, the house elf would find him and heal him. He would wake up tomorrow as right as rain, but just a little bit more dead inside, ready to be paraded around by his father like a stallion at stud for whatever pureblooded witch had been signed over by her parents, along with a large dowry no doubt.

SMACK!  
Again, Theo heard that oft-repeated sound, except this time he had punched his father in the face. And by the sight of the scarlet torrent flooding from it, he had broken it. Good. Laughing sardonically, without humour, Theo raised his wand and his father's eyes focused on it instantly; they showed no fear, no remorse, they were the same as they always were; cold, dead, unfeeling, the eyes of a predator, a sadist.  
"You have been a shadow over my life far too long, father," he said mockingly. "No more. Avada Kedavra!"  
Thud. Theo stood over his father's corpse, peering down at his father's unblinking eyes with a mix of shock, satisfaction and morbid curiosity. Relief washed over him, cleansing his soul, but still, he had expected to feel something a little more... well more. He still felt empty.  
He looked over his shoulder and watched with pride as Harry Potter finally defeated the Dark Lord. It was over, it was finally over.

SMACK!  
Theo was thrown off balance as a raven-haired boy barreled into him. He instinctively wrapped his arms around the boy's small frame and pulled him closer, breathing in his sultry scent and listening to the cathartic sound of his boyfriend's steady heartbeat.

"Theo, you left me" he stated, Theo could hear the pout behind Harry's words.  
Tilting Harry's face up, he kissed his nose gently, with a delicate caress of reassurance.  
"I can't leave you, Harry, it's impossible to."  
As Harry pressed closer to him, Theo smiled. He had finally found happiness, like a flash of lightning in the endless dead of night.


End file.
